當(dāng)?shù)貢r間5月27日，美國前總統(tǒng)喬治·HW·布什于因低血壓等癥狀進入緬因州一所醫(yī)院接受治療。自發(fā)妻芭芭拉于上月17日病逝后，老布什身體狀況第二次亮起紅燈。

老布什夫妻結(jié)發(fā)73年，是迄今美國總統(tǒng)夫妻中婚齡最長的一對。

Photo credit: Getty Images

壹

老布什低血壓再度入院

George H.W. Bush, the oldest living former U.S. president, was taken to Southern Maine Health Care last Sunday after experiencing low blood pressure and fatigue and will remain there for a few days for observation, the family spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement.

喬治·赫伯特·沃克·布什是目前在世最長壽的美國前總統(tǒng)。布什家族發(fā)言人吉姆·麥克格萊斯(Jim McGrath)發(fā)布聲明稱，上周日老布什因低血壓與疲勞癥狀被送入南緬因醫(yī)療中心接受治療，并將留院觀察數(shù)日。

“The former president is awake and alert, and not in any discomfort,” McGrath wrote on Twitter.

麥克格萊斯在Twitter上寫道：“前總統(tǒng)已醒來并恢復(fù)意識，身體沒有不適反應(yīng)?！?/p>

① fatigue [f?'ti?g] n. 疲乏 vt. 使疲勞

例句：As soon as I finished my speech, my eyes began to close, fatigue took over and I returned to my room as quickly as I could. 演講一結(jié)束，我的眼睛就睜不開了，全身倦意籠罩。我以最快的速度回到房間。

② alert [?'l??t] vt. 警告;使警覺，使意識到 adj. 警覺的;留心的 n. 警戒;警報

例句：Twenty minutes later, he climbs out and heads back to his office, alert and ready to battle whatever the rest of the day has in store. 二十分鐘后，他走了出來返回辦公室。此時他十分警覺、做好了應(yīng)對這一天里出現(xiàn)任何戰(zhàn)役的準(zhǔn)備。

Screenshot: Twitter

Bush was hospitalized in Texas last month for treatment of an infection that spread to his blood, and stayed there for nearly two weeks. He was admitted to the hospital a day after he attended the funeral of his wife, Barbara, the former first lady who died on April 17. The couple had been married for 73 years.

當(dāng)?shù)貢r間4月17日，老布什的妻子——美國前*夫人芭芭拉(Barbara)去世。在參加完她的葬禮次日，老布什即在德克薩斯州被送入院接受了血液感染相關(guān)治療，并住院近兩周。這對夫妻已經(jīng)結(jié)發(fā)73年。

The 93-year-old Bush arrived in Maine last week. He has spent part of every summer in Kennebunkport since his childhood, except while serving as a naval aviator during World War II. Friends of the 41st president have said he'd been eager to get to Maine after Barbara Bush’s death.

93歲的老布什上周抵達(dá)緬因州。除二戰(zhàn)期間擔(dān)任海軍飛行員那些年外，自孩提時代以來，他每年夏天都會在肯納邦克波特呆上一段時間。這位美國第41任總統(tǒng)的朋友們說，他在芭芭拉·布什去世后一直想到緬因州來。

③ hospitalize ['h?sp?t(?)la?z] vt. 就醫(yī);送…進醫(yī)院治療

例句：The cause of death was not yet known, but she had been hospitalized in recent months because of a recurring blood infection. 她最近因血管受感染入院，但確切死因還不清楚。

④ infection [?n'fek?(?)n] n. 感染;影響;傳染病

例句：His mother's blindness before she died had terrified him and his own eye infection had been a stroke of doom. 在他母親去世前失明的那些年他十分害怕，而且他認(rèn)為自己眼部的感染是命中注定。

⑤ aviator ['e?v?e?t?] n. 飛行員

例句：Lagerfeld, who was dressed in a tight Dior suit of broad gray and blue stripes, and a pair of aviator sunglasses, disdains this practice. 穿著迪奧灰藍(lán)色寬條紋緊身服的拉格斐德戴著一副飛行員式太陽鏡，他對這種行為表示不屑。

Photo credit: Getty Images

貳

老布什與芭芭拉的73載婚姻長跑

在老布什夫妻73年相守中，妻子芭芭拉·布什功不可沒。她專注于家庭，一直保持著良好的公眾形象，是丈夫敏銳的盟友，也是孩子們的堅強后盾。

Barbara Bush, who has passed away at the age of 92 at the family's Houston home, was the second American woman to have been the wife of one president and the mother of another. The first was the formidable Abigail Adams.

芭芭拉·布什上月在其位于休斯敦的家中去世，享年92歲。她是美國歷史上第二位既是美國總統(tǒng)妻子又是總統(tǒng)母親的女性。*位是令人敬畏的阿比蓋爾·亞當(dāng)斯(Abigail Adams)。

(注：阿比蓋爾是第2任美國總統(tǒng)約翰·亞當(dāng)斯(John Adams)的夫人與第6任美國總統(tǒng)約翰·昆西·亞當(dāng)斯(John Quincy Adams)的母親。)

⑥ formidable [f?(r)'m?d?b(?)l] adj. 強大的;可怕的;令人敬畏的;艱難的

例句：This sets it apart from the formidable competition that, in New York, seems to renew itself on an almost monthly basis. 紐約城里那種可怕的競爭，那種幾乎每月一次的改頭換面，統(tǒng)統(tǒng)都會被拋在腦后。

Photo credit: Getty Images

In her autobiography Barbara Bush: A Memoir(1994), Barbara Bush describes her and her husband as "the two luckiest people in the world, and when all the dust is settled and all the crowds are gone, the things that matter are faith, family and friends. We have been inordinately blessed, and we know that."

在她的自傳《芭芭拉·布什回憶錄》中，芭芭拉·布什將自己和丈夫形容為“世界上最幸運的兩個人，且當(dāng)一切塵埃落定，繁華散去，人生中重要的東西就是信仰、家人和朋友。我們知道自己很幸福?！?/p>

⑦ inordinately [?n'?rdn?tli] adv. 非常地;無度地

例句：Google is inordinately useful, but it is not remotely intelligent, as we human beings understand that term. 雖然谷歌特別有用，可是按照人類理解“聰明”這個詞來講，它一點也不聰明。

Screenshot: businessinsider.com

初見定終生

Their first meeting left an indelible impression on young George Bush. They met at a dance over Christmas vacation in 1942. She was 16 and he was 17, and Barbara claimed that George was the first boy she ever kissed. "I'm not much at recalling what people wear, but that particular occasion stands out in my memory," he says in his autobiography.

兩人的初見給年輕的喬治·布什留下了難以磨滅的印象。他們在1942年圣誕節(jié)假期的一次舞會上相遇，那年芭芭拉16歲，布什17歲。芭芭拉稱喬治是她親吻過的*個男孩?！拔也惶浀萌藗兇┝耸裁?，但那個特別的場景深深地鐫刻在我的記憶之中?！崩喜际苍谧詡髦忻枋龅?。

After dating for a year and a half, the two became engaged and planned to get married before George went off to serve in World War II as a Navy pilot. He famously named three of his Navy planes after her, and the two shared love letters while he was away.

約會了一年半后，兩人訂婚，并計劃在布什二戰(zhàn)時期作為海軍飛行員服役之前結(jié)婚。他以芭芭拉的名字命名了他所駕駛的三架海軍飛機，分隔兩地期間兩人還互寄情書。

⑧ indelible [?n'del?b(?)l] adj. 難忘的;擦不掉的

例句：The scandals have ensured that its goods now have an indelible image of being not just cheap, but life-threatening as well. 這些丑聞讓它的產(chǎn)品留下了難以擺脫的形象：它們不僅廉價，還可能有生命危險。

Photo credit: Getty Images

13年養(yǎng)育6子

Over the next 13 years, the couple had six children: George, Robin, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. The husband gives Barbara all the credit when it came to raising their children, and described her as "themainstay, of course, the parent who was always there to help solve the daily problems and emergencies of teen and preteen life."

在接下來的13年中，這對夫婦有了六個孩子：喬治、羅賓、杰布、尼爾、馬文和多蘿西。丈夫老布什將撫養(yǎng)子女的所有功勞都?xì)w于芭芭拉，并形容她為“(家庭的)主心骨，當(dāng)然，也是一位時刻準(zhǔn)備著幫助孩子們解決少年時與青春期生活中日常問題與突發(fā)事件的母親?！?/p>

⑨ mainstay ['me?nste?] n. 支柱;中流砥柱

例句：It has been a mainstay of American economic growth and prosperity. 長期以來，它始終是美國經(jīng)濟增長和繁榮的支柱。

⑩ preteen ['pri?'ti?n] n. 青春期前的孩子 adj. 13歲以下的;青春期前的

例句：Born in Cairo, he had spent a few years in Oregon as a preteen while his father earned a PhD. 他在開羅出生，10歲前在俄勒岡州待了幾年，那時他父親獲得了哲學(xué)博士學(xué)位。

Photo credit: Getty Images

長久的婚姻不乏考驗

Their marriage also has weathered more serious trials: A daughter, Robin, died in 1953 of leukemia a few weeks before her 4th birthday; Barbara Bush has recalled a bout of depression in the mid-1970s... "Night after night, George held me weeping in his arms while I tried to explain my feelings," she said. "I almost wonder why he didn't leave me."

他們的婚姻也遭受過多次嚴(yán)峻的考驗：1953年，女兒羅賓在她的四歲生日前幾周死于白血病;70年代中期，芭芭拉·布什曾一度患上抑郁癥……“許多個夜晚，喬治將哭泣的我抱在懷里，我就會試圖訴說自己內(nèi)心的感受，”她說，“我甚至想知道他為什么不離開我?！?/p>

Just last year, allegations surfaced that Bush, who for more than five years has used a wheelchair for mobility, inappropriately touched more than a half dozen women on their buttocks as they stood next to him to take photos. Through the spokesman McGrath, Bush issued repeated apologies "to anyone he has offended." Also last year, they bothwound up in the same Houston hospital — the former president with pneumonia; his wife with bronchitis.

老布什有五年多一直依靠輪椅行動，就在去年他受到指控，超過六名女性表示在與他合影時，他曾不妥當(dāng)?shù)赜|碰過她們的臀部。發(fā)言人麥克格萊斯則表示，布什為“他曾冒犯過的所有人”多次道歉。同樣在去年，夫婦二人被送入了休斯敦同一家醫(yī)院——老布什因為肺炎，芭芭拉則是因為支氣管炎。

? weather ['wee?] n. 天氣;氣候;處境 v. 經(jīng)受住;使風(fēng)化;侵蝕 adj. 露天的;迎風(fēng)的

例句：Turkey, unlike some of the Eurozone’s heavily indebted economies, has weathered the financial crisis relatively well. 土耳其與歐元區(qū)一些負(fù)債累累的經(jīng)濟體不同，它相對安然地度過了金融危機。

? bout [ba?t] n. 一次;一陣;(疾病的)發(fā)作

例句：If the events of this week encourage greater circumspection then this will have been a bout of market turmoil well worth enduring. 如果本周所發(fā)生的事件能讓投資者更為慎重，那么這將是一次很值得承受的市場動蕩。

? wind up 解散;結(jié)束，收場;將…繞成團

例句： The spokeswoman for the auction house said she did not know how the oil painting had wound up inside the sofa. 拍賣行的發(fā)言人表示，她也搞不明白這副油畫是怎么跑到沙發(fā)里面的。

Photo credit: Getty Images

芭芭拉：“我不懼怕死亡”

In 2013, Barbara told C-SPAN that she and George pray aloud each night and sometimes "fight over whose turn it is." "I have no fear of death, which is a huge comfort because we're getting darn close," the First Lady said in the same conversation. "I don't have a fear of death for my precious George, or for myself, because I know that there is a great God, and I'm not worried."

2013年，芭芭拉告訴美國有線電視C-SPAN，她和丈夫喬治每晚都會大聲祈禱，有時還會“因為爭論輪到誰了而打起來”?！拔也粦峙滤劳觯鞘呛艽蟮奈拷?，因為我們離它很近，”這位前*夫人在這次訪談中還說道，“我對我的愛人喬治和自己的死亡都沒有恐懼，因為我知道存在著一個偉大的上帝，我并不擔(dān)心?！?/p>

? darn [dɑ:n] n. 補丁adj. 該死的 adv. 極其 v. 縫補

例句："It's pretty darn exciting, and a bit crazy," she says, "to see a bunch of researchers running around burning down a forest." “這真是太刺激了，而且還有點瘋狂，”她說，“看著一群研究人員東奔西跑燒毀一片樹林?！?/p>

Photo credit: Getty Images

*，附上1990年芭芭拉·布什在韋爾斯利女子(Wellesley College)畢業(yè)典禮上的一段精彩演講：